Chapter 21 : Danella On The Streets
Part 2 : Danella's Adventures On The Streets
She went out to look for a man. She was not due to be working this evening. She walked some distance around the 'red light district' of Dumis, having in mind that she might join with the local whores and find a man that way, the easiest way. She saw some women who were obviously whores standing at the roadside, but felt her intervention on their pavements would not be looked upon kindly by them.
She found a bar and attempted to enter it. The noise from inside suggested that it was very busy and mainly with men. She was however barred from entering by the burley doorkeeper.
"Sorry ma'am, but we don't allow no women in here except for the barmaids of course," he said forcefully.
Surprised, of course she remembered that Hugo's bar held a similar policy, but mostly women had been welcomed at the society places her wealthier consorts had taken her to. Was there nowhere in this cold part of the city where a woman could pick up a man. She judged that it would be pointless to chat to the doorkeeper while he was on duty and neither did his looks particularly tempt her.
She felt the desire to sample an attractive man tonight to ease her. If she found any she particularly liked the look of she would not try to charge them as a true prostitute would. She needed the sex more than she needed the money. She began to rue her decision not to introduce herself to one of the men in Hugo's bar. If the first one she would have liked to pick had not been interested in what she offered, one of the others surely would have been, but that might have caused Hugo's disfavour and she wanted to keep her room.
Annoyed with her pointless venture she made her way back towards Hugo's bar. As the evening developed the streets became deserted as working men came out of offices and workshops, making their way home to their wives and families if they had them, otherwise many went to the bars on the way home. Many of them married men whose possessive wives might be annoyed if they stayed out too long, and particularly if they drank too much. They grasped what freedom from the daily toil they had and spent it in a way designed to make them relax and to forget the day as quickly as possible.
Presently she walked along a street near her hotel. She stopped as she passed a bar and looked in through the open door, inquisitive towards the life and camaraderie which she could hear within. There were men inside. She wished she could join with them, but knowing that she was not allowed to do that, she stayed outside and waited a while. She felt no strong impulse to return to her room so soon. She might just as well wait and prolong her adventure, despite her dissatisfaction. One man came, flat capped from his work, an ordinary man. He looked strangely at her as he saw her waiting. Perhaps he thought she waited for her husband inside. Or maybe he thought she was a whore although whores seemed unknown in this particular street or neighbourhood. Whether he would approve or not of such a woman who could know? In Prancir men kept their true thoughts silent unless it was over a drink with a trusted friend.
"Hello," she said simply, surveying his handsome face. Yes, he would have done. But the man was too quick for her. He seemed unready to be welcomed in such a way by a woman in such a place, where he so little expected to find one. He nodded and uttered a 'hello', coolly in a typical Prancirian male way, noncommittal and wary. Into the bar he quickly disappeared. Other men did much the same. One was more of a business man. He wore a suit, which denoted his position as at the least a clerk, but he had the air of self confidence about him. Perhaps in his own small world he was quite important. She would have liked this man also, but he was too determined on his route to be drawn into conversation.
The next man to come out, closely followed by a friend of his, was however far more communicative. Red-faced with the drink he slurred his words a little and looked at her twice as if to focus on her. "Hello, 'ello, look what we got 'ere Jean. You waiting for your husband then you pretty thing. Pretty thing isn't she Jean."
"Yeah," acknowledged his friend, perhaps a little more reticent to admit such an impolite thought before a woman he did not know, and in a place where he least expected her. Yet he too had been drinking and the suggestion of his friend was more easily taken in such circumstances. They talked to her for a while. She asked them about their wives. Jean was unmarried. George was married to a dull wife who nagged him and did not like him drinking. She would be annoyed with him, he said. He would not go straight home.
"And what are you doing here, if you have no husband inside," asked George.
"I am just curious to see what's inside these bars you men go to," she said.
"I thought you might be a whore," he said, "if you're waiting outside here and have no one in particular to wait for." George was willing to say things she judged his friend would not have.
"Well you're right, I have no one to wait for. I have a room nearby for this night."
"You are a whore aren't you," chuckled George in his direct way. He was very like some of the soldiers she had known. He was joking, he didn't necessarily believe what he said.
"No, but if you want some company you're welcome to come back with me.....to my room," she added when they looked as if without comprehension to her. "I want someone to talk to, and be with tonight." They both seemed to draw away from her slightly as if there was a sudden barrier between them now she had admitted her wanton nature, not the lady they had first thought she was. "Both of you are welcome."
That seemed to re-establish normality for them somewhat. George felt able to speak again now that he felt he knew what she suggested. "Oh you mean you want us both to come with you, for a cuppa tea, like?" he said.
"Yes," she said, "if you will." She knew that the idea of both of them going back to her room was safe for them. If she had been a whore she would have wanted one only to return with her.
"Well I'm game if you are Jean. What do you reckon Jean? How about a little adventure?"
"Why not. I haven't got anything better to do right now," said Jean. There was a glint in his eye which told Danella he was aware of the possibility of something sexual. At the least she could tell he was already stimulated by her appearance, a little shy of a woman despite the drink. She had handled many soldiers like this. George was even less sure, but he was quite prepared to stay out for longer.
"My wife will kill me if I don't go back soon. But I don't feel like going home. What's your name then missis? I certainly won't be telling her I'm going back to a woman's house for a cup of tea or something stronger."
"Have you ever been married?" she asked Jean.
